Instant Messages Don't Just Disappear

Instant messages don't disappear when you close the Sametime (or other) instant messaging window, not in the corporate world anyway. Just about all corporations back up their network systems' activity daily. If yours doesn't, better quietly start job hunting. The firm is going to crash and burn some day soon.

What corporations do with instant messaging varies widely. For example:

An enlightened employer's policy may be to ignore the instant messaging, knowing that all employees need to let off steam. Company management is well aware that the personal comments themselves can be retrieved (through the instant messaging logs) when needed, as in the event of a lawsuit.

At other companies, the instant messages are regularly reviewed, even monitored daily. An enlightened company will use what they read only to identify problems early on, not as a spying tool. Morale issues, for example, are very prone to getting worse, if a bad manager's high-handed tactics are permitted to continue. Such eventually huge problems may cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Use Caution Before Copying Instant Messages

Copying and pasting someone's informal comments to you is akin to taping a telephone conversation without the permission of both parties. That is, it's highly unethical, and in the case of the latter, definitely illegal without a court order. Or it was, until the current Administration's approach to civil liberties. State laws may be more stringent than Federal laws, however.

Someone new to the corporate world or to IM may think nothing of copying instant messages and pasting them into a database as "proof" of what they were told to do. The text is complete with typos, slang, "smilies," and everything else that goes along with informal written speech. It can be embarrassing, to say the least. And you may end up being publicly flamed in the same database for doing what you did.

There's Always an Exception to Everything

Exceptions to copying instant messages are when you're being harassed, threatened, or accused of wrongdoing, of course, and then instant messages should be copied into a personal file, not one the whole world reads. That's the real reason behind CYA. Again, if you're new to the corporate world, CYA stands for Cover Your "Backside."

Otherwise, if you don't want to end up duking it out in the company parking lot, play it safe. Never copy and paste anyone's Sametime comments into another document or database. Use a more formal e-mail request to obtain your needed information, and use professional wording, wherever you can.

Sametime definitely has its invaluable uses in the work environment. One of the most important is being able to reach the boss, to defuse a crisis. But to be doubly safe, don't say anything in an instant message that you don't want someone else to read. You don't need the long-term headache that may result.

© 2006 Shirley Ann Parker

Shirley Ann Parker is a full-time technical writer. She is also the author of Discoveries: A Journey Through Life, a delightful collection of short stories about the joys and frustrations of family life and friendships. Discoveries is available from http://www.bbotw.com and other online bookstores. Read more about Discoveries at http://www.shirleyannparker.com/discoveries.htm, and see more of Shirley's creative work at http://www.cafepress.com/topazcoveplus